How Venturing as a Service Works

Why is it so rarely successful, despite a clear innovation strategy, to integrate external solutions into the organization in a structured and repeatable way? 

Almost every company wants to stay innovative. In practice, however, implementation often remains unsystematic. Projects arise sporadically, budgets are limited, scouting is not continuous, and decision-making logic differs from department to department. Innovation therefore depends more on individual initiatives than on a reliable system. 

Venturing as a Service addresses exactly this. As an external innovation unit, we take on the operational structuring and leadership of the Corporate Venturing setup and transfer external innovation into a clearly defined, repeatable process. This includes the operational derivation of concrete search fields from existing company priorities, as well as structured scouting and validation through to PoC or pilot in real operations. Early tests can take place within a protected project framework outside the core organization, reducing friction with existing processes, IT requirements, and budget logic. On this basis, well-founded decision-making foundations are created, making external innovation more plannable, closer to implementation, and organizationally compatible. 

What Is a Venturing as a Service Approach? 

Venturing as a Service does not follow detached strategy consulting, but an operational logic. The starting point is concrete needs from specialist departments and business units, which are systematically matched with external solutions. This brings together pull from the organization and an outside-in perspective in a structured way, rather than running them in isolation alongside each other. 

At the center is operational project management through to the decision point. From problem definition through scouting and validation to PoC or pilot, clear roles, decision points, and success criteria are defined. Validation takes place in a controlled, protected framework before scaling into the full organizational logic. This creates reliable go or no-go decisions rather than isolated individual tests. 

At the same time, viable framework conditions are built up without having to establish an additional internal venturing unit. Processes, governance logic, and reporting structures are refined and made repeatable alongside real projects. This reduces internal coordination effort and avoids the build-up of fixed structures with permanent overhead. 

What Does 'Without Overhead' Mean? 

'Without overhead' in this context does not mean lower standards, but a lower structural additional burden. The focus is not on new full-time positions, parallel innovation structures, or long concept phases without implementation. Instead, operational management is taken over as an external innovation unit, while specialist departments remain substantively involved and are relieved organizationally. External innovation is thus validated in a clearly managed, resource-efficient process that complements the existing organization rather than creating additional complexity. 

Realistically achievable outcomes include plannable innovation cycles, faster and cleanly structured validation of external solutions, and a noticeably reduced internal resource commitment. Corporate Venturing thus develops froma sporadic project into a reliable capability that remains viable even under budget and time pressure. 

This article deliberately focuses on the pull logic — meaning concrete needs from the organization and their structured transfer into pilot projects. However, a fully optimized venturing setup goes a step further and complements this logic with a systematic push component. This includes continuous trend and solution scouting based on relevant signals from startups, research, and technology developments. How this push logic can be built and the role it plays in a scalable venturing setup will be examined in one of the next articles. 

How such a venturing setup can be led to the first pilot with manageable resource commitment can be clarified in a brief conversation. Our Co-CEO is happy to provide an assessment: 

👤 Justin Gemeri – Co-Founder & Business Development Manager 

📧 justin.gemeri@ekipa.de 

📞 +49 151 525 924 17